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Mississippi Edition: Wednesday, Dec. 17th

Posted
by Ezra Wall on

flickr: Steven Depolo

Segment 1: JPS Restraints/Seclusion Policy Under Fire

Mississippi's second largest school district is withdrawing a new policy intended to limit the use of physical restraint and seclusion as a form of discipline. The Jackson Public School Board decided late last night to wait until after the new year to craft a new policy. Board President Otha Burton. A lawsuit had accused the district of using handcuffs to restrain students. Mississippi is one of five states without a law governing the use of physical restraint and seclusion in schools.

Pam Dollar is head of the Mississippi Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities. She is also the parent of an adult son with autism. She says she allowed her son's school to use restraints against him when he was young, but has since changed her mind on the practice, as she tells MPB's Jeffrey Hess.

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Segment 2: Uber Revving Up Service in Mississippi

The ride-sharing company, Uber, is setting up shop in the Capital City and could expand to other parts of the state soon. The company works similarly to a taxi service, but avoids municipal taxes and special licenses for their drivers - a practice that has garnered much criticism in recent months. Billy Guernier is in charge of regional expansion for Uber. He tells MPB's Ezra Wall more about the company's quick expansion.

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Segment 3: "Something Rich and Strange" from Ron Rash

New York Times bestselling novelist Ron Rash is also an award-winning writer of short stories. The new collection, Something Rich and Strange, is a series of stories from the last 40 years of the acclaimed author's career. In today's Book Club, Rash tells our Ezra Wall how old he was when he wrote the earliest story in this book.